Dock fender systems



Dec. 26, 1967 G. H. COCHRANE DOCK FENDER SYSTEMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 21, 1966 Dec. 26, 1967 G. H. COCHRANE 3,359,740

DOCK FENDER SYSTEMS Filed Feb. 21, 1966 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 26, 1967 G. H. 'COCHRANE 7 3,359,740

DOCK FENDER SYSTEMS 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed Feb. 21, 1966 Y FIG.4

Dec. 26, 1967 Filed Feb. 21, 1966 G. H. COCHRANE DOCK FENDER SYSTEMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 United States Patent 3,359,740 DOCK FENDER SYSTEMS Graham Hugh Cochrane, London, England, assignor to Taylor Woodrow International Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Feb. 21, 1966, Ser. No. 529,077 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Feb. 26, 1965, 8,519/ 65 Claims. (CI. 61-46) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dock fender system comprises a row of piles embedded in the water bed at spaced points. Transverse beam means interconnect the upper parts of the piles and are stressed by force acting forwardly toward that face of the construction against which berthing impact may occur. Means, which may be end piles or separate abutments at the opposite ends of the beam means, react against the stressing force. The stressing force may be applied by tensioned wires or the like, or may be caused by a method of construction in which the beam means, before assembly, has a line of longitudinal extent out of conformation with the layout line of the piles.

This invention relates to dock fender systems of the kind wherein the kinetic energy of a berthing vessel is absorbed by the deflection of vertical or raking piles firmly embedded in the water bed, e.g., sea or river bed.

It is the chief object of the invention to evolve a dock fender construction which will have a greater energy absorption capacity than similar constructions hitherto in use and broadly in accordance therewith it is proposed to provide a fender construction comprising a plurality of upstanding piles which are firmly embedded in the water bed, e.g., sea or river bed at appropriately spaced points and are linked or interconnected at their upper parts by a transverse beam or a plurality of such beams, said beam or beams being flexed or stressed in such a manner as to cause that part thereof against which berthing impact is likely to occur to be forced forwardly against the reaction of certain of the piles, of abutments at the ends of the beam or beams or of adjoining reversely curved beam sections. The flexing or stressing of the transverse beam or beams may be effected by means of one or more tensioning wires or cables or through the medium of fluid operated jack means or other appropriate devices, or simply by imparting before assembly of the structure an initial curvature which is in excess of or does not conform to the layout or pattern of the piles. The piles may be disposed in spaced relation along a straight line or along a curved or arcuate path or a succession of curved or arcuate paths such as will provide a corrugated or regular wave formation when seen in plan.

In accordance with a further aspect of the invention there is provided a method of constructing a dock fender system which comprises in embedding a plurality of piles at spaced points in a predetermined relationship in the sea or river bed, interconnecting or linking the upper ends of said piles by means of a transversely extending beam or a series of such beams which is or are stressed or flexed so that that portion thereof against which berthing impact is likely will be forced forwardly or outwardly against the reaction of certain of the piles or of fixed abutments or other means.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect reference will now be made to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings in which:

3,359,740 Patented Dec. 26, 1967 ICC FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a dock fender structure,

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the structure shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 33 of FIGURE 2 but drawn to a larger scale,

FIGURE 4 illustrates a possible modification of the construction shown in FIGURE 1,

FIGURE 5 is a plan view illustrating diagrammatically a possible berthing layout,

FIGURES 6-9 illustrate diagrammatically several possible alternative prefiexed beam arrangements.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to FIGURES 1-3 it will be seen that the dock fender structure comprises a plurality of high tension steel piles 10 which are driven into the water bed, e.g., sea or river bed so that they will cantilever from the latter. The tender construction presents a face which, in the form shown in FIGURE 2 is convex, against which berthing impact may occur. As indicated in the drawings the piles 10 will preferably be driven at equally spaced points along a preselected layout line so that they extend upwardly in spaced parallel relation and they may be driven vertically or they may be appropriately raked as indicated in FIGURE 3. At their upper ends which project an appropriate distance above maximum high water level the piles 10 are interconnected or linked together by a plurality of transversely extending beams 11 also of high tension steel. Possibly in certain cases it may be feasible to employ a single transverse beam but generally a plurality of such beams will be employed as indicated in FIGURE 1. In the embodiment illustrated in FIGURE 1 all of the beams 11, which are disposed in spaced parallel relation one below the other, extend from one end to the other of the row of piles 10 but if it is desired to vary the stiffness of the beam system from the centre to the ends then as shown in FIG- URE 4 certain of the beams may be terminated in zones or areas where a reduction in stiffness is required. The transverse beams 11 (or beam where only one is employed) will be welded or otherwise fixedly secured to the piles 10.

With the beam or beams 11 in place it or each one of them is flexed or stressed by means of a tensioning wire or cable 12, the opposite ends of which are, as will be clearly seen from FIGURE 2, appropriately anchored to the beams at spaced points. The arrangement of the tensioning wire or cable is such as to cause the central portion of the beam 11 to be forced forwardly or outwardly against the reaction of the end piles so that as illustrated in FIGURE 2 said beam will assume a bowed or arcuate shape in plan. Conveniently the tension wire or cable 12 will be supported at spaced points along its length by means of appropriate brackets or the like such as are indicated at 13.

The piles 10 may be driven in the sea or river bed so as to be spaced along a straight line or a curved or arcuate path. In the latter case the transverse beam or beams 11 will initially be of corresponding curved or arcuate form in plan and on preflexing or prestressing as described above the degree of curvature will be increased. With such a curved arrangement the deflection of the central portion of the or each transverse beam 11 in a direction transverse to its longitudinal axis will cause a displacement of the beam ends in a direction partly along said beam axis. By adjusting the torsional and bending stiffness of the or each transverse beam 11 the degree of fixity of the pile heads in the direction parallel to the longitudinal axis of the beam may be made greater than that in the direction perpendicular to said beam axis and thus it is possible to increase the supporting reaction which the end piles provide for the centre piles whilst still permitting maximum pile head movement transverse to the beam. axis at whatever point the berthing impact occurs.

Inthe embodiment illustrated in FIGURES l-3 fender elements 14 of timber or other appropriate material are attached to the face of the transverse beams 11 while the structure also incorporates a walkway or platform 15 extending along the top thereof. The construction of the actual dock, quay or landing platform in conjunction with which the fender structure or system according to the invention is employed is immaterial and it will depend upon the requirements in any particular case. One possible berthing layout is indicated diagrammatically in FIGURE 5 and it will be seen that in that case three flexed beam fender structures are shown but that is purely by way of example and the number of tender structures may be varied to suit any particular requirements. In FIGURE 5 it is envisaged that a system of loading conveyors, one being illustrated indicated at 17, will be employed but here again that is purely exemplary since the flexed beam fender structure or system of the invention may be employed with any appropriate quay or shore structure or installation.

It may be pointed out here that while in the foregoing reference has been made to the use of one or more wires or cables for effecting the requisite flexing or stressing of the transverse beam or beams, such flexing or stressing may be effected by fluid operated jacks or other appropriate devices. Alternatively as indicated in FIGURE 6, it may be feasible to impart an initial curvature to the beams or beam system such that it exceeds or does not conform to the pile positions that is to say the beam or beams, before being connected to the piles, has or have a line of longitudinal extent out of conformation with the layout line of the piles. This arrangement is such that the requisite forcing of the beam or beams and the piles together in erection of the fender system would result in the desired degree of prefiexure or stressing of beam or beams. In FIGURE 6 the possible initial curvature of the beam is indicated at 11A while the line of the original pile positions is indicated at 19A, the final beam position being indicated at 11.

While in the foregoing description it is stated that the reaction to the prefiexing of the centre portion of the beam is provided by the piles at the beam ends it may be found to be advantageous to introduce a definite abutment at each end of the beam such abutment being for example in the form of a cluster of piles or possibly a gravity block. Such an arrangement is shown in FIGURE 7, wherein 11 as before denotes the beam and 18 the abutments.

Again while reference has been made above to the laying out of the piles it either along a straight line or along a curved or arcuate path it may be mentioned here that the piles may be so arranged that on erection of the fender system it will when seen in plan have a corrugated or regular wave like formation as indicated in FIGURES 8 and 9. In such a case the preflexing or prestressing of the beam or beams 11 will be such that alternate portions, i.e., portions curved forwardly, will be flexed or stressed against the reactions of the intervening rearwardly curved portions. 7

Whatever the form of the fender system it may be equipped with a walkway, platform or the like extending wholly or partially along the top thereof somewhat as indicated in FIGURES 1-3 and additionally fender elements of timber or other appropriate material such as are indicated at 14 in FIGURES 1-3 may be attached to the beam or beams at appropriate points.

What I claim is:

1. A dock fender construction having a face against which berthing impact may occur, said construction comprising a row of a plurality of piles embedded in the water bed at spaced points; transverse beam means interconnecting said piles at their upper parts and being stressed by force acting in a direction forwardly toward said face of said construction; and means at the opposite ends of the beam means for reacting against the aforesaid stressing force.

2. A dock fender structure according to claim l including tensioning wire means for stressing said beam means in said direction.

3. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said beam means, when interconnected to said piles, inherently is stressed by force acting in said direction, whereby, in the assembled and interconnected pile and beam means structure, said beam means is prestressed.

4. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said piles are disposed along a curved path.

5. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said piles are disposed along a succession of curved paths providing a corrugated formation.

6. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said beam means comprises a plurality of transverse beams connected to said piles and in vertically spaced parallel relation to one another, certain of said beams being of longer length and extending from one end to the other end of said row of piles, and other of said beams being of shorter length, whereby zones of reduced stiffness are provided in said structure.

'7. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said means at the opposite ends of said beam means is constituted by the piles at the opposite ends of said row of piles.

3. A dock fender structure according to claim 1 in which said means at the opposite ends of said beam means is constituted by fixed abutment means other than said piles. I

9. A dock fender structure according to claim I in which adjoining beam sections are reversely curved to provide said corrugated formation, and in which alternate beam sections are forced forwardly against the reaction of intervening reversely curved beam sections.

1%. A method of constructing a dock fender system having a face against which berthing impact may occur, said method comprising embedding a plurality of piles at spaced points in the water bed along a layout line; and interconnecting the upper parts of said piles with at least one transversely extending beam which, before being connected to said piles, has a line of longitudinal extent out of conformation with said layout line, said beam being stressed in the assembled system by force acting in a direction forwardly toward said face.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1957 Carey 61-48 OTHER REFERENCES JACOB SHAPIRO, Primary Examiner. 

1. A DOCK FENDER CONSTRUCTION HAVING A FACE AGAINST WHICH BERTHING IMPACT MAY OCCUR, SAID CONSTRUCTION COMPRISING A ROW OF A PLURALITY OF PILES EMBEDDED IN THE WATER BED AT SPACED POINTS; TRANSVERSE BEAM MEANS INTERCONNECTING SAID PILES AT THEIR UPPER PARTS AND BEING STRESSED BY FORCING ACTING IN A DIRECTION FORWARDLY TOWARD SAID FACE OF SAID CONSTRUCTION; AND MEANS AT THE OPPOSITE ENDS OF THE BEAM MEANS FOR REACTING AGAINST THE AFORESAID STRESSING FORCE. 